by Xander Hades
“What do you get out of it?” Rocky asked and Val thanked her lucky stars that he hadn’t gone completely loco just yet. He seemed wary, even a little suspicious.
“A lot of money!” Óscar laughed. “I said, cage fighting is very big to the south of here. People love to watch and love to gamble and will pay big dollars to do both!”
“Thank you,” Rocky sighed and shook his head. “But… I think I just need to wait until this whole thing blows over. Once the probation is lifted, I have a shot at the title. I’ve been working for it for a long time. I can’t blow this.”
“Please,” Óscar said. “I would like to talk to you about this in a more informal setting. Would you…” he turned to Val for a moment and back to Rocky again, “…both of you please be my guest tonight? I have reservations set aside for dinner tonight at 8 at Levar’s.”
“Levar’s?” Rocky said, his eyebrows raised.
“Please,” Óscar held out his arms to them. “I would be honored by your company.”
Rocky looked at Val, but he wasn’t questioning anymore, he was grinning. “Of course!” he said, and eagerly shook the man’s hand.
Óscar looked around the office. “You do good work here, I researched this place, yes? You help keep the children off of the streets, keep them out of crime. That’s good. I might have been different if there was a place like this when I was a boy. Call me if you need to. OK?”
Óscar grinned again, but Val couldn’t help but notice that the smile never quite reached his eyes. He showed himself out, heading back to the black Mercedes with the confident swagger of a man who was on top of the world.
“I don’t like him,” Val said and shook her head.
“He’s the devil.” Maria spat after the man.
“$20 grand would go a long damn way,” Rocky murmured under his breath, and Val could see he was looking at the man’s card, his expression thoughtful.
Chapter 13
Rocky had spent the afternoon extoling the virtues of Levar’s. It was mostly based on hearsay.
“You’ve never been there?” Val finally stopped him.
“No,” Rocky grinned. “It’s an expensive place. It’s pretty famous, though. Supposed to have the thickest steaks in L.A.” He was still grinning like a school boy. Val was happy to see him happy, but it made the offer less and less appealing. “I still have the suit,” he said, going to the closet, and pulling out a bag over a hanger. He lay it on the bed and lifted the bag, revealing a dark navy suit tucked carefully within.
“I don’t…” Val said, suddenly lost. She hadn’t worn anything dressy in years and it never occurred to her to bring anything even remotely suitable for the two weeks she was supposed to be out in LA.
“I kinda didn’t think so,” Rocky said, his expression softening. “I didn’t think you could fit something like a dress or whatever into the bag you had. I asked Maria to find you something.”
She stared at him. “You know that Maria and I are very different sizes?”
Rocky shrugged. “She said she could find something. I don’t know.”
“Well…” Val took a deep breath. “I’ll go see what she has then.” She waited for Rocky to say something, anything. The whole idea was getting worse and worse, but she waited for an opening to talk about it. “I don’t like him” wasn’t exactly encompassing.
Rocky was looking for a tie clip and never even noticed when she left.
Val wandered down the hall deep in thought. Maria’s room was toward the end of the row. The adults spaced themselves across the building to handle issues that might come up between the residents, or to watch for problems from the former gangs they’d run with.
“There you are!” Maria chirruped as though she’d been the one looking for her. “Come on in I think I have the perfect thing!”
Val stepped into the room and ogled the décor. Maria was apparently very interested in lace and doilies and very large puffy pillows. There was a couch and table like it was a living room, the bed was notable by its absence.
“Have a seat, have a seat.” She hurried to a mini-fridge and pulled out a beer and a diet soda. The beer she handed to Val. “I hope you like it. I went and got a couple of bottles cause Rocky told me you liked that kind, and I was hoping that you’d come by.”
“It’s good!” Val said and smiled her appreciation. “Thank you. Um…Can I ask… don’t you have a bed?”
“Oh,” Maria laughed. “I just throw all this fluffy stuff on the floor and sleep on the couch. It’s big enough and there’s just me!”
Val felt foolish for not figuring that out and took a pull of the beer. It was cold and had a bite. Perfect.
“Rocky said you were looking for something for me…” She trailed off, gesturing to her tank top and jeans, shrugging helplessly.
“Yes and I think I found something you will love! We will have to get you some hose, though, I think this will look stunning with black tights maybe.” She stopped and stared at Val. “What shoe size do you wear?”
“Eight,” Val said without thinking. It was something in the way Maria talked that made her jump and respond fast before she could think.
“Eight it is!” Maria cried. “That’s good, do you know that’s the same size I wear? Amazing isn’t it? You’re such a little thing and I…” She laughed again. “Well, I’m not but we have the same size foot!”
“But I don’t think we have the same dress size…” Val offered weakly.
“Ha!” Maria burst out laughing. “One of my dresses would be worth two of yours!” She said with a wicked gleam in her eye. Val chuckled. “No, I found…” She stood up, went to the bathroom, and came out with a beautiful black dress. It was silk or satin, it shone in ripples as she moved it around. It had a ruffled edge on one hem that was made in a dark red and flowed from halfway up the garment to the middle of the bottom hem. It was paired with a slender belt. Val suppressed a gasp.
“It’s wonderful!” she said and put down the beer. She stood and took it from Maria to admire it closer.
“If it fits, it’s yours!” Maria said. “I got it from a friend of mine that got pregnant. She was giving this away.”
“How come?”
Maria laughed. “She said that she got pregnant from wearing it, if you know what I mean.”
“Got it.” Val smiled and blushed, for she’d liked it just for the way she knew Rocky’s eyes would light up when he saw her in it.
“Well, go try it.” Maria pointed to the bathroom. “One nice thing about living in an old motel, everyone has a private bathroom!”
Val ducked into the bathroom and stripped. The fit across the bust was a little tight, but not uncomfortable. The fabric clung to her like a second skin and the ruffle started about mid-thigh on the left and then fell to the final hem on just above the right knee. It was daring, but elegant and picturing it with black tights… Val smiled. It would be perfect.
She opened the door and Maria squealed in delight. “I love that!” she gushed at her. “What do you think?”
“It’s perfect,” Val said, and tugged a little uncertainly at the top. “Thank you! The bust is a bit snug…” She looked down at herself, noting the way her breasts positively ballooned up over the edge, creating…cleavage.
“Honey, it’s supposed to be that way.”
“You have a short friend?” Val asked. The problem with most dresses was that they tended to make her look like a little girl playing dress-up. They invariably came down so far that they dragged behind her like she was wearing a train. This was made for someone her size.
“Well…” Maria bit her lip. “Actually, that’s not a dress, it’s her shirt.”
Val threw up her arms. “Figures,” she said, then looked at herself again. OK, well if it worked…who cared? “Thank you.”
“SHOES!” Maria exploded and led her to the closet. She proceeded to pull out several plastic boxes and tore them open.
“Wow.” Val whistled appreciatively. “This is a
real Imelda Marcos moment…”
“Who?”
“Imelda… never mind. She was kind of a queen and had a vast shoe collection.”
“Well…” Maria’s usual smile faded. “This is left over from a very different time. Our daddy, Rocky’s and mine… well, let’s just say we grew up with the finer things in life.”
Val was burning with curiosity but the look on Maria’s face warned her off. “Those are nice,” she said, pointing to a pair.
“Try them on,” Maria said, sorting through some others. “I have a pair in mind, let me see if I can find them…”
In the end, the ones Maria had in mind seemed to be the best fitting and went well with the dress. The dollar store supplied the black tights (girl’s large) and Val was set, even if she was more than a little worried about the whole thing.
It’s dinner. Just a dinner out. We’re not committing to anything.
But even though she told herself this quite firmly several times as she got ready that night in Maria’s room, she had a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach that never quite went away. She didn’t like that Óscar person, and she didn’t like what he represented.
The whole thing felt like a trap.
By the time Rocky came to get her, Val was jumping out of her skin. She opened the door, taking a deep breath, as deep as she could under the tight restraint of the dress and opened the door. Rocky dazzled in his suit and tie. He looked at her and took a step back.
“Wow,” he whispered it softly, but his face was an image of shock and lust and pride.
It was the perfect thing he could have said. “Thank you.”
Then, from some part of a different time and a world away, he extended not his hand, but his elbow. Feeling like a princess, she placed her hand on his forearm as he walked her to the tune of children’s whistles and cat-calls to a waiting limo.
“Speaking of ‘wow’,” Val said, looking at the car.
“They sent it.” Rocky said. His grin was infectious. “I think they really want me.”
Chapter 14
Levar’s was as elegant as he’d always heard it would be. The tables were covered in bright linens and the service was incredible. Val was the perfect date to take there, too. Wherever Maria had found that dress, it fit her perfectly, and she was an art form, the most beatific thing he’d ever seen. Style and quality looked good on her. It suited her and he vowed again that someday she would have all of the finest that money could buy.
He was proud to have her on his arm, he knew he was grinning like a besotted fool, but he couldn’t have stopped if he wanted to – and he didn’t want to.
When they arrived, the maître d’ looked up from his podium and smiled. “I take it, sir, that you are Mr. Veliz?”
“How did you know?” Rocky asked.
The man merely smiled and said, “Your party is waiting for you, sir.” He bowed and walked them into the dining area through a maze of tables under the quiet strains of a Bach concerto. To Rocky’s astonishment it was live music, there was a five-piece string group on a balcony overlooking the tables. They were good.
“Ah, mes amigos!” Óscar rose from his table and greeted them warmly. The young lady with them smiled and kept her seat.
Óscar hugged Rocky, much to his astonishment. Including my father, that’s the second man-hug I’ve had that wasn’t the start of a wrestling match. He then proceeded to hug Val. In a way it was almost comical, Val was such a little thing, and Óscar was a bean-pole. The humor faded quickly though as Óscar seemed to hold the embrace a bit longer than he should have, almost to the point where he could see she was considering making good use of Maria’s stiletto heels on the man’s instep. Just to see what would happen.
Rocky was about to say something when he let her go. Val was visibly unhappy, but she gripped Rocky’s hand hard enough to sprain it and plastered on a smile.
Ok, I owe her for this dinner. Big time.
“Please, seat yourselves!” Óscar said, the expansive gentleman at all times.
Rocky seated Val and then turned his attention to the young woman next to Óscar waiting an introduction. None came.
“Did you enjoy the limo?” Óscar asked, taking his napkin and laying it on his knee.
“It was very nice,” Val said, “thank you.” She looked at Rocky and her eyebrows rose. Rocky gave a tiny shrug.
“Are you going to introduce us to your friend?” He asked Óscar finally when it seemed the man didn’t have the good taste or manners to do the introductions himself.
“Oh, of course,” Óscar said. “This is Gina, this is… ah… VAL!” He snapped his fingers as her name came to him. “And this… this is the great Rocky Veliz! Probably the greatest cage fighter that ever lived! Puño de la muerte!”
Rocky’s breath caught in his throat. Val’s eyes widened. Only Gina looked confused. “Excuse me for asking, but what does that mean, puno dela morty?”
“Puño de la muerte!” Val corrected her quietly, “It means ‘fist of death’. Somewhat inappropriate, I should think.” The look she gave Óscar was not pleasant.
“Amigo,” Óscar said, “I mean no offense. In the south we love the grandeur, the flash, the pageantry. The age of chivalry and the age of the computer are both meshed tightly together. Having a name that conjures something of a vision or a… superhero is a good thing.” He laughed. “If you wore tights and a cape, you’d have double the fan base!”
“No, I understand.” Rocky said. Other cultures had other ways of doing things. It would have been a fun stage name if it hadn’t hit so close to home. He smiled a belated hello to Gina. She wore a dress that was tighter than Val’s and though it might have covered more, it was nonetheless more revealing. She was a tall blond, she had an elegance, but it seemed… strained. The earrings were most likely diamonds, the necklace… well if it was real it would be worth a lot more than that 20K Óscar had promised for the first fight.
Despite the rough start and the fact that Val refused to relax through the meal, it turned into a pleasant evening. When Val stood after dessert and excused herself, Gina went with her.
“What is it about women that they have to go the bathroom in herds, eh?” Óscar asked, stroking his mustache as the women took their leave.
“’Herds’?” Rocky was grateful Val hadn’t heard that one.
“Gaggles?” Óscar grinned and sat back. “They do it to talk about us, you know that, right?”
Even if Gina isn’t there, you still need to be the center of her attention? Sadly, that attitude was common among the men that organized fighting events of all sorts. There was something about the “promoter type” that lent itself to a certain ego. A lot of fighters shared that affliction, but Rocky suspected that right now, instead of dishing on him, Val was trying to pump this Gina for more information.
“She is a very beautiful girl, this Val.”
“Thank you,” Rocky said, with a polite nod, adding belatedly, “So is Gina.”
“Please,” Óscar waved him off. “Do not feel obligated to parrot it back to me. We both know who the lucky man is here tonight, no?”
Does he want me to make a pass at her? Or is he just trying to flatter me at Gina’s expense?
“I am sorry, I seem to have offended you again, my friend. English is very difficult language, but the more I use it the better I get, so I occasionally say something inappropriate, please,” he reached into his suitcoat and pulled out a small envelope. “Take this as an apology for my transgressions.”
Rocky cautiously opened the envelope and took out two plastic cards. Each of them had the embossed seal of a five-star hotel and resort a few miles away. “They are to the honeymoon suite.” Óscar tapped the room-key cards. “My car will take you there when you are ready, and will come for you at nine tomorrow morning.”
“I can’t…” Rocky said, shaking his head. There was no way he could accept a gift of such magnitude.
“It’s already paid for,” Óscar insisted. �
�And you have room service, wet bar, whatever you want. Just bill the room.”
“This is too much…” Rocky said.
“No.” Óscar sat forward in his chair. “This is normal. This is life fighting for us.” He grinned. “You might as well get used to it now.” He smiled and started looking in his pockets. He shrugged and gave up. “I tend to forget that cigar smoking is not allowed here.” He said with a half-smile. “Everywhere I go in this country I cannot smoke. After a good meal like this, a fine fat Cuban would be perfect.” He smiled and added. “I mean a cigar, not a woman!” He laughed at his own joke. “… although…” His hand made a waving motion.
They rose as one when Val and Gina returned. “Well, I think we will be leaving now,” Óscar announced. “It has been a great pleasure.” He directed this last at Val and gave her a short bow. Gina looked surprised but said nothing as they left.
Rocky sat down after they were gone, still somewhat stunned. Val fell into the chair beside him.
“Ok, that was a….” Val said slowly
“…weird…” Rocky dropped his napkin on the table.
“… dinner.” Val finished.
“Did you and Gina talk at all?”
“Of course,” Val said. “You think women can only pee in groups? We do it to talk behind your back.”